Beddington Heights is a place I hold close to my heart since the home I was born in and early years of my childhood were held there. My parents' first home. My Grandparents (Nonno and Nonna since they're Italian) lived only a couple blocks away also in the community. They would always pick me up from preschool and take me to their restaurant which was down off Edmonton Trail - Vagabondo was the name. Great Italian restaurant that I am sad no longer exists. I wish I had some food to review but I would only eat gnocchi which they made fresh. We knew so many people from the neighborhood and we still keeps in touch with some of our old neighbors. 

SO WHY CHOOSE BEDDINGTON

Home to nearly 12,000 Calgarians, Beddington Heights is a great, centrally located area in North Central Calgary off of Beddington Trail and Center St. Being an older area the homes have character and the area is fully grown, large trees, lush parks, and mature nature. There are two great parks nearby, Nose Hill Park and Confluence Park. Both are great for walks, runs, and getting the dogs out for exercise. I frequent at least one of the parks every day in the summer going for walks or runs with my dog. She's a Husky with high energy so the endless seeming paths give us so much opportunity for exercise and explore. The Beddington Town Centre provides many amenities like grocery stores, drug stores, a Canada Post location, Starbucks, Tim Hortons, restaurants, bank branches, and much more. It was a surprise when I found out there are At least 4 off-leash dog parks inside the community plus Confluence Park and Nose Hill. For the religious communities Beddington has many different offerings including Catholic, Monnonite, Pentecostal, and Chinese Alliance, and Islamic Association places of worship available. 

Check out https://beddingtoncommunity.ca/ for up to date community information and events. Most communites in Calgary have a newsletter and magazine, Beddington is no different. If you click HERE you can see many of the ongoings within the community from upcoming events, to classifieds and I have even seen job postings in some. It's great to see those in the community contribute to the newsletters and community events. If you're not from Beddington, I still recommend looking through and seeing what your community has to offer. Some of the information I share later is directly from these newsletters and magazines.

COMMUNITY CLUBS AND EVENTS

With so much more to offer, beddington has many local clubs and events right within the community. As I mentioned before there is a great community newsletter / magazine that can be found HERE. I have listed some of the groups/clubs and events I found below:

• Beddington Community Garden & Hub - This is a non-profit volunteer led initiative to build a community gathering place. They are currently looking for volunteers to help with planting Saturday April 30th and Sunday May 1st to build and fill planter boxes. To learn more and how you can get involved you can find more information HERE!
• Stampede Breakfast - What's a community without a stampede breakfast?? You can find information on upcoming breakfasts through the Beddington Heights Community Association Facebook page and on the newsletter previously linked.
• Beddington Book Club - The book club is public and can be joined by anyone in the community. They currently meet via Zoom according to the Beddington Heights Community Association website HERE.
• Community Cleanup & BBQ - The residents have organized a community cleanup to clean up a park and have a BBQ with those volunteers. I think this is a great idea! More details in the newsletter found on page 4 HERE.
• Beddington Theatre Arts Centre - Beddington Theatre Arts Centre holds mamy plays and events in the converted community centre. There are programs for all ages and you can find that link HERE. They also have a number of upcoming plays and classes which can be found HERE!
• Santa's Eve Visit - I was unaware of a few things on this list but pleasantly surprised about the Santa's Eve visit when I found out about it. I imagine the children love this! More information can be found on the Community Association website.

SCHOOLS AND EDUCATION

There are a number of schools in the community so please see some of the information about them below:

• BrightPath Beddington - Early years education and child care are offered. They use a combination of play based and child-led learning experiences along with offering daycare opportunities. For children to young for grade school this is a great opportunity in early development.
• Saint Bede Elementary School - Saint Bede is part of the Calgary Catholic School District and teaches Preschool, Kindergarten, and grades 1-6. https://stbede.cssd.ab.ca/
• Beddington Heights Elementary School - This is a public Kindergarten and grades 1-6 elementary school part of the Calgary Board of Education.  https://school.cbe.ab.ca/school/beddingtonheights/Pages/default.aspx
• Middle & High School - For most students, they will end up in the public CBE system and the two schools they will go to after elementary while living in Beddington are most likely Sir John A. Macdonald (Grades 7-9) and John G. Diefenbaker (grades 10-12). Both of these schools can be found with the following webpages Sir John A. Macdonald & John G. Diefenbaker

POST SECONDARY EDUCATION

There are many post secondary institutions in the city and for a more centrally located neighborhood it's important to understand how close those are so below are the city transit commute times to the near by institutions for current and potential students to reference:

• SAIT Polytechnic and Alberta University of the Arts (Formerly ACAD) - 14 minutes driving, 37 minutes via transit
• University of Calgary - 15 minutes driving, 39 minutes via transit
• Columbia College - 15 minutes driving, 46 minutes via transit
• Bow Valley College - 15 minutes driving, 38 minutes via transit

GREEN LINE C-TRAIN

As I am sure most of the city is aware of the Green Line train transit system being implemented. Stage 1 & 2 are currently planned to be built as far North as 16th Ave. The next northern section of the tracks will pass straight through Beddington as it follows Center St. all the way to Livingston. At least half of Beddington will be within 10 minute walking distance to the train station which will provide key transit across the city as it links straight to the core. Although I don't see a date of when this may be implemented, these projects provide residents an outlook when looking for a place to settle down long term. Projects like these increase desireability of an area and can add value. I have many clients asking for properties close to transit and this new project provides more of those opportunities around Calgary. Below I have added the map of where the project will run throughout the city.

SUM IT ALL UP

To sum it all up, Beddington Heights is a great community that will make you feel like you belong to something and whas so much to offer year round. You can really explore and become a part of it all. I think it's a great opportunity for young families since there are so many family activities and events to take part in. The location also allows easy mobility around the city since there are so many places within a 15 minute drive like downtown, colleges, the airport, etc. As always please reach out with any comments or questions!

Why aren't dogs good dancers? Because they have 2 left feet...

Matt Halladay

403-700-3182

halladayrealestate@gmail.com

REALTOR® | Real Estate Profesionals